In software we express our ideas through tools. In data, those tools think in rectangles. From spreadsheets to the data warehouses, to do any analytical calculation, you must first go through a rectangle.. Forcing data through a rectangle shapes the way we solve problems (for example, dimensional fact tables, OLAP Cubes).

But really, most Data isn’t rectangular. Most data exists in hierarchies (orders, items, products, users). Most query results are better returned as a hierarchy (category, brand, product). Can we escape the rectangle?

Malloy is a new experimental data programming language that, among other things, breaks the rectangle paradigm and several other long held misconceptions in the way we analyze data.

Lloyd talks about the ideas behind the Malloy language, semantic data modeling, and his vision for the future of data.

Lloyd is Looker’s co-founder and the lead inventor of both LookML and Malloy. He has been crafting software since the time when computers stored their programs on paper tape.

Originally posted on Data Council.